Drakensang Online

Overview

Wow! Did you play Drakensang Online yet? You should – starting today! Set in a mythical medieval, seemingly European area or country called Dracania (where else?), this browser-based fantasy-themed MMORPG game is really, really cool. To give you a bit of a frame, Drakensang Online is inspired a lot by games like Diablo and Path of Exile – hack ‘n’ slash type games that are very action-focused and high-energy. Bigpoint Games, the German developer that’s also known for games like Farmerama and Dark Orbit, released Drakensang Online as a browser-based game, but did also launch a stand-alone version that allows players to get a little more of a premium gaming experience with superior graphics and a better sound, which is a nice additional feature although we are perfectly happy with the browser version of the game, which doesn’t require us to download anything – we can dive right in! Obviously, the stand-alone version does involve a download and install procedure before you can start playing.

Key features

• Four classes: Dragonknights (melee), Spellweavers (glass cannons), Rangers (archers), Steam Mechanicus (dwarf class, capable of dealing mid-range damage only).
• Limited Skills system: when reaching a specific game level, players gain access to a new, automatically unlocked set of skills. Drakensang Online only offers a choice of two skills every 5 levels.
• In-game currencies: Gold, silver, and copper are used to buy weapons, armor, and such, or for repairing damaged equipment. Andermant, which costs real money, is used to buy rare equipment, gems, or for teleporting purposes.
• No pay-to-win setup: some players may argue that Drakensang online sports a pay-to-win model. This is not true. You don’t have to buy Andermant, monsters randomly drop it for you to pick up, and you receive Andermant as a quest reward. Buying it is advantegous, but doesn’t make the game pay-to-win.
• Team up with others: you can join a group to prevent getting stuck in the game when a certain part is too difficult for you, or to check out specific group content like the parrallel worlds.
• Free to play: no credit card and no downloads are required to play Drakensang Online.

Deepdive

You start by choosing your class from four available options, each one with its pros and cons and with its own unique builds and playing styles. The number may not sound very impressive, but these classes actually offer a surprising amount of variety! Character creation is a fun aspect, with lots of customization options: gender, height, hairstyle, facial hairstyle, et cetera, to fit your personal preferences. You can create a pretty brutal look – but no man buns, please! 😜

New players can take a quick and easy tutorial into the game’s basics, including tooltips that pop up whenever you encounter a new game feature (that you can turn off the option using the Settings menu). The mission, however, is part of the storyline and cannot be skipped, not even by veteran players. The good thing is that it includes a taste of the group play dynamics the game offers. Once you manage to reach the town of Grimford, you can intensify group play by taking on quests and dungeons together with other players.

The game starts off pretty easy, but don’t let that fool you – you’ll be ambushed by hordes of enemies soon enough, so prepare for lots of intense combat action! The good versus evil type story is as cliche as it gets, but it serves the game well as it provides unlimited quest options. I guess some cliches are just too useful – they serve extremely well as a basic game ingredient.

The biggest downside of Drakensang is that it takes a lot of time to expand your skills and really move up the ladder. You can only learn new skills (and only two at a time) after you finished 5 levels, which can take a considerable amount of time. This makes the game progress slow, especially in the beginning when you just start collecting loot and you can’t really purchase a lot of stuff yet. But, this is your typical experience gamer comment, because even in the early stages the numerous quests and fights with monsters and other creatures do provide a lot of fun. Take on all the quests you can is our advice, so you stack up on as much loot as possible and you can start purchasing additional armor. Some equipemt can only be purchased with Andermant, which you have to collect during gameplay, or purchase with real money. If you decide to keep playing for free, you can still play the full game and purchase even the rare pieces of equipment, but it does take a lot longer to progress.

Standout Features

• With gems (dropped by monsters, bought with coins or Andermant from jeweler NPCs, or received as a daily logging in bonus), you can increase your character’s defensive and offensive status – the equipment offers specific slots to embed gems. The higher the gem tier, the more you can increase your status. Offering nine tiers in total, the top 4 can only be obtained by combing gems of a lower type tier.
• You can increase your DPS strength with so-called essences – consumables that can temporarily increase your character’s damaging power. You burn through these essences with each attack or use of offensive skills, but you get more by killing monsters, or buy whatever you need from Essence merchants.
• If you like to measure your strength with that of other players, the PvP Arena is the perfect place. Joining an arena is easy with the Battle Registration menu. You can choose from several setups (up to 6v6 matches), each with its own set of rules and scenarios. After registration, a timer counts down and informs you when your match will start. The badge of honor you earn in a match can be exchanged for currency necessary to buy equipment from the Battlemaster. With Andermant, you can open the PvP option for your character anywhere in Dracania – save for known safe zones (towns and cities).

Overall rating

Drakensang Online is a hell of a game! It is so much fun to play, and the fact that it looks awesome doesn’t hurt the fun! Although the basic storyline is very generic and used in many other games, it doesn’t hurt gameplay in any way. The game is free and doesn’t require real money purchases, although premium members do have a slight advantage, it is extremely smooth for a browser game and offers enough different playing options to keep things interesting an challenging. And, let’s face it: hacking and slashing never gets old! Thumbs up – MMORPG lovers should definitely try this!